Anyways, I was wandering the intertubes when I found this! JAL unveiled an airplane with Mao on it sometime before Christmas. In the video, I think Mao said that this was a nice Christmas present. I don’t think she owns the plane but I think she was honoured (and surprised) that her face was on a gigantic airplane. (I believe it’s the 777 model.)

There’s a pop singer there too, Tatsuya Ishii. I have a few of his songs on my iPod. He sounds way better than in this video. So as a treat…

Enjoy~!

Have you seen any ads featuring figure skaters in your country? If so, link me in the comments or via Twitter (@LanternBell).

Like any smart person on the internet, I have an e-mail account for stuff that’s not important or ads. You know what I mean, the e-mail you put in when some shop asks you to fill out a survey or whatnot. In any case, I have never bought anything from Ralph Lauren in my life but for some reason, I keep getting e-mails from them. One of them featured an ad with some figure skaters, including Mr. Windmill, Evan Lysacek as well as Meryl Davis & Charlie White.

I’m really not sure what this ad is supposed to achieve considering none of the athletes look attractive in any of the clothing in this shot. Also, where is Evan’s trademark orange glow? I mean, what is Evan without his orange-ness?

Anyways, have you seen any ads in your country featuring figure skaters? Send them my way and I’ll feature them in a post! Until then…

It’s been a whirlwind of posts and I’m all tuckered out. However, here is a roundup post of all sorts of links that can help you be the ultimate Olympic figure skating fan! Remember: figure skating events begin on February 6th while the opening ceremonies are on February 7th.

For a schedule of events and information on all things Sochi 2014, here is the official website of this year’s Winter Games.

This is the ISU’s official page for the Olympics. I will put up the link to the protocols and scores if they ever show up. I finally found the protocols page. Who’s a fan of the site redesign? Not me.

For those who may not have access to a TV or all the channels, Hot Blades Hot Passion has written a post with a schedule of the figure skating events and livestream links.

If you have trouble figuring out time zones and what not, here is the time in Sochi along with the times of all the Olympic events.

Ok, seriously, with all the hype and overscoring that follows Patrick Chan, you’d think that you’d be seeing him everywhere. In fact, I’m surprised that he’s not the one getting his own TV show. In any case, I actually haven’t seen any ads, for Chan, on TV or on billboards at all this season, which I find infinitely strange. (As you may know, I’ve already done a “On the Street” post for Tessa and Scott – link here.)

However, I was getting a coffee before going to the symphony at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto when I saw this ad on I think, Wellington Street.

An interesting coincidence is that I was going to watch a performance of the Bacchanale from Samson et Dalila (my favourite piece of classical music) that night – a piece used in Meryl Davis & Charlie White’s breakthrough program. Dun dun dun. Oh well, I love the bacchanale and I don’t really care who skates to it. That and there were other pieces of great music that night, including an orchestral version of Claire de Lune and Wagner’s overture to Rienzi. So much beautiful music…

Have you seen any ads for figure skaters in your country? Link me to a picture in the comments or via Twitter (@LanternBell) and I’ll feature it on a post! (I’ll give you credit, of course!)

This is to let you know that there are 10 days left until the Sochi Olympics officially begin! In 10 days, all our athletes will be competing for this:

While we’re waiting, here are some dates that us figure skating fans will want to mark in our calendars. All times are in local time in Sochi. If you want to figure out what this is in your time, consult this link here. Also, check your local TV station for broadcast schedules.

With the European Championships over and the Four Continents competition pretty much over, more Olympic teams are being announced. So far, I’ve done a post on the Olympic teams for Japan, Canada and the U.S. With Russia and China, I’d say that we’ve pretty much named all the heavy hitters in figure skating. Team Russia has recently named their Olympic team with one huge (though maybe not totally unexpected surprise) while Team China seems to have been named ages ago but it’s hard to find an official source. My Chinese isn’t the best and it takes a long time for me to decipher a paragraph but a few readers and reliable friends have chipped in with some info and their names match up with each other so I’ll take it that they are correct unless someone tells me otherwise with a reliable source.

Without further ado, here are the figure skaters representing Russia at the Olympics…

Men

Evgeni Plushenko

A surprise nomination as most people thought that Maxim Kovtun was going to Sochi. Some thought that he may compete only in the team event but that isn’t allowed. (Some friends have sarcastically noted that he might mysteriously get “injured” after the team event, thus letting Kovtun take his place in the individual event. Either way, there will be an abundance of windmill arms.) Plushy is old for a figure skater and he did lose to Kovtun at Nationals, however he is a legend and I have to give him props for competing at age 31. I wouldn’t be surprised if he pulled out a quad or two in Sochi.

Ladies

Adelina Sotnikova
Julia Lipnitskaia

With a 1-2 finish at Euros this year, they were the obvious choice despite the depth in ladies skating in Russia right now.

Moving on, here are the skaters representing China at this year’s Winter Olympics…

Men

Han Yan

Ladies

Kexin Zhang
Zijun Li

I think Li’s nomination wasn’t a surefire thing for a while since her slot was supposed to be tba. Li did not compete at Nationals due to injury and supposedly puberty is not treating her well. However, with her bronze at 4CC, I think her placement in the Olympic team is quite secure.

Pairs

Qing Pang & Jian Tong
Peng Cheng & Hao Zhang

I feel a little sad for Wenjing Sui & Han Cong who were battling for the second spot with Cheng & Zhang. Sui & Han aren’t terribly polished but they have big tricks which make them fun to watch. Still, I’m so happy for Cheng & Zhang. They’ve come a long way since last season and for a relatively new pair, they’re so well put together and they have such great choreography this season.

Ice Dance

Xintong Huang & Xun Zheng

And that is it for Olympic team announcements! What do you think of the teams? Was there a skater you thought should’ve been chosen? Let me know in the comments!

Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir have been in the spotlight this year for their new reality show. (If you haven’t tuned in and are wondering what the show is like, Dave Lease aka Aunt Joyce has a fabulous article on the first episode.) The advertising for this show has been quite intense; I’ve been bombarded by ads for this show many times while wandering around youtube. Although talk about intense, this is one giant billboard across from Dundas Square in Toronto (sort of like Times Square but not as cool for those of you who don’t now). What’s even more ridiculous is that if you look to the left of the picture, the bright screen was showing an ad for the show. I wasn’t able to take a picture, but across the street from this billboard and screen is another electronic billboard on top of the Hard Rock Cafe. And yes, there were ads for Tessa and Scott’s show there too.

Seen any ads with figure skaters in your country? Link me in the comments or tweet me (@LanternBell) and let me know if I can make a post about it. (I will give credit to you on the post, of course.)